Nick Aldis has admitted there is far more on his mind than simply stepping back into the ring when he faces Gunther at WWE SummerSlam. While the SmackDown General Manager has years of experience as a wrestler, he believes returning to compete on WWE's biggest stage presents a completely different challenge.

Speaking on the Insight Podcast, Aldis revealed his biggest concern was never whether he could perform moves, but whether he could keep up physically with WWE's current roster.

“I think the big nerves are still to come, obviously. But I think because I feel like I’ve got my body right, now I feel a bit more comfortable. In the beginning, when I first sort of realized that this was on the horizon, I think my biggest concern was my physical ability. I don’t mean my ability to execute a bodyslam. I mean my conditioning. I suppose I should take it as a compliment that upper management didn’t seem to have very much concern about that. But I was very concerned, and I remember saying to Ed Koskey, there’s a big difference between physique shape and ring shape, and I only have one of those right now.”

Rather than chasing a dramatic physical transformation, Aldis explained that his training has been centered on stamina and ensuring he is capable of going the distance against one of WWE's toughest competitors.

“Honestly, I say this with all sincerity. My focus for the last couple of weeks, or a little more than that, has been entirely on conditioning, performance and conditioning. You’re not going to make a whole lot of difference to your physique in four weeks. Obviously, you can make some significant dent in your body fat and you can tighten up. But I’m not going to add any muscle. I’m not going to make any drastic changes to my proportions or composition or anything, but the focus had to be on being able to go. I basically just decided, okay, whatever happens with the physique, it is what it is. The physique’s somewhat there, so I have to be able to go.”

The showdown was made official after Gunther targeted Aldis following his failure to secure another Undisputed WWE Championship opportunity. Weeks of confrontations eventually led to Aldis agreeing to step out from behind the authority figure role and back into active competition.

Aldis and Gunther are scheduled to meet in a singles match on Night One of WWE SummerSlam, which takes place on August 1 and 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Gunther just attacked Nick Aldis

"You know what, you're jealous you've never been in my position, you're just a failed wrestler"

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨pic.twitter.com/VZmIkTxoAs

, Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) June 27, 2026